Teen Bailed After Crash Leaves Young Woman With 'Very Serious Injuries'

A TEENAGER was over the drink-drive limit when he crashed a car into a field, leaving a young female hospitalised with ‘very serious injuries’, Derry Magistrate’s Court has heard.

- Garrett Hargan

Conor McSorley, 18, of Roe Mill Walk in Limavady, appeared in court charged with 13 offences arising from a road traffic accident (RTA) on December 20.

Those include driving with excess alcohol, possession of cannabis, using a vehicle without insurance or a licence, driving with excess speed, causing grievous bodily harm by driving carelessly, driving without due care and attention, and failing to remain at the scene of an accident.

A police officer told the court that at 9.45pm on December 20 there was a report of an RTA on the Clooney Road, Limavady bound. As a result a car ended up in a ‘nearside field’ and the suspect was ‘detained by a member of the public’.

The officer said the defendant was ‘trying to make off from the scene’ and when a preliminary breath test was carried out he blew a reading of 58mg per 100 ml of breath. A ‘female friend’ was discovered in the passenger seat ‘bleeding from her head’.

Two packets containing a substance, which police ‘believed to be cannabis’, were recovered from the vehicle. The PSNI officer said a witness claimed McSorley overtook him at speed.